One MIllion Dollars

"If you were given $1,000,000 to invest in St. FX, and you could spend it anyway you wanted but you had to invest in one thing only (can't break the money up and spread it around). What would you do?"

Matt MacGillivray
“I had to think about this for a long time acctually. There are so many ways you could use this money, and I wanted something that would have a noticeable inpact on students. Obviously tuition came to mind, we all pay so much to attend university and any way to reduce this burden would be a good use of the money. So my first thought just out of the blue was to use it to reduce eveyones tuition next year, but this idea is a little short-sighted. Everyone would like their tuition reduced by any amount next year, but using the money this way would only benefit students once and $1,000,000 divided by ~4000 (~$250 reduction) is a help but not a significant one. So I expanded on this idea and decided that I’d invest the $1,000,000 and create a bursary program for students, that would help a number of students in need each year.”


Pat Connors
“This was a tough one. I wanted to think of something that would benefit a maximum amount of students, while still investing the $1,000,000 in one place. I’m hoping this answer fits your criteria since the original lump of money would remain together.

I would say that what the overwhelming majority of students have in common at St FX – no matter where they are from, what subject they are studying, or activities they are involved in – is that most receive the X-ring. So, I thought the best way to use this money would be to place it in a savings account. Each year the interest from the money could be taken, and divided up amongst each X-ring recipient to be used toward covering the cost of the ring.

Obviously the amount would not come close to covering the entire cost but it would reduce some of the burden. Plus, it would benefit each graduating student for years to come.

I admit that I can’t take all the credit for this idea. It was actually bounced around and discussed by students at one of our platform development meetings. However, that is where I would choose to invest $1,000,000 for St FX.”


Scott Matheson
“I'm going to cheat a little bit on this question...but only a little. If I had a million bucks to invest in StFX, I would add the entire amount (thus not breaking your rule) to the Student Union endowment fund. As you may or may not know, the The U's endowment fund is a chunk of change sitting in the bank collecting interest. The Union, in turn, uses the interest to finance itself. The bigger the principle amount in the bank the bigger return, and the more money the Union has. By increasing the endowment fund by a million dollars, increasing the principle and consequently the interest, the Student Union would have more money to fund its operations - whether they be concerts, X-Ring, societies, services etc.

So if this massive funding increase were to happen, I would love to expand the scope of the Union and change / improve several things. For one, I would like to provide more funding to the X-Pride society and the International Student society. Both societies are support systems for their constituent members and pick up the university's slackness in this regard. In addition, I would like to improve the entire Union Services portfolio - improving infrastructure and training for the entire sub-exec. I would also use some of the money to pay for a full-time professional webmaster for the TheU.ca. In addition, working in accordance with the Environmental Officer, I would like to use some of the money to improve StFX's ecological footprint. Many initatives are already in the works by the office, but many environmentally friendly practices are expensive. It would also be great to have some really cool events at the Inn! The list truly could go on and on, and I guess that that is because I cheated (but not really haha). Above are just a few ideas off the top of my head - I could add to the list almost indefinitely. I think you get the pictue though: Smart and Innovative financial management will led to greater success for The U and the student body as a whole.”


Julia Clarke
“If I could split up the money i'd have lots of little projects I would like to see done but since you put that restriction on me....haha. $1 million dollars would be spent to build the much anticipated business building. I am going into my 4th year of business and the one thing the business program is lacking is the ability to teach in a business world setting, this is because there are no appropriate venues to teach classes of the business nature. Right now business classes are spread all over campus and just like science they should have a building of their own. I know its in the works but since money seems to be a factor, this would speed up the process. “


Until next time,
sf